Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Tick Tock...Tick Tock....

The time keeps ticking on by and before we know it, we will be making our way to the airport to get on our flight to Florida!

We are so excited about the trip. I just hope the next three weeks of work go by just as fast as this last week went by.

I made a batch of home made chex mix but used a different brand of butter and a rice chex instead of using the corn that I like and it doesn't taste right to me. It seems very bland. I just hope it's not bland because I'm coming down with something. I feel ok but have had a little bit of congestion in the nose lately.

We are thinking of going to Sea World in San Antonio on Thursday. We have never been at the holiday time and they have special shows for the holidays. So I bet it would be fun. It just depends on what we get done tomorrow.

Ian has his three month eye check up on Friday and I might go with him as I need to set up my eye exam. Going to set it up for the first Friday we are on vacation. Jan 20th. There was a possible issue with the holiday shut down time so I decided if I made a dr appointment for that friday I could take it as planned sick time and that would allow me to be off and not have to go in and work a half day. I have enough vacation hours to cover all by a half day. If we get the 8 hours back they took away then no worries. This way I'm covered either way and still get to start my vacation on Friday Jan 20th now.

Otherwise it was going to suck with having to go in for a half day with having family here. So I spoke with my team manager and he said once we found out for sure regarding the holiday shutdown pay then we would adjust the hours. I have been being asked by the eye dr when I go with him when I was going to set up an appt myself so now this is sort of making me do it but thats a good thing. I need to get them checked and this way I can get any glasses ordered before we fly out and they should be in by the time we get home.

Not much else to say. If we go to Sea World on Thursday we will take the camera and I will get some pictures. If it's nice weather then we will likely go. Be back later.

~hugs

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

TGIF!!!

I know I said this in my last post but this week really flew by. I know it helped for us to have the holiday party and not having to work one day of my work week.

We have some errands we have to get done this week such as oil changes in the car and I think we are going to maybe go to the moive on Ian's saturday....or Thursday in the real world. hehe...

I will probably get a spread sheet going of where we have reservations for our ADR's along with what park or resort the reservation is at. I am probably going to start a packing list as well. This way I can print it up before I officially start packing us. We will need to take things for all sorts of weather. I know currently they have been having highs around 80 and then lows in the upper 40's to mid 50's. So likely can do jeans with a light jacket for the night time.

I have 4 weeks of work left or 16 work days. I like it when I count it down like that. Seems much smaller than weeks...hehe...I know it's the same amount of time but considering when I have my 3 day weekends, days sounds better to me...

I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner and then we will have New years, and our official tenth wedding anniversary. Time flies when you are busy and having fun.

Not much else to say. I will be back tomorrow probably to post some pictures from the holiday party. We didn't take a whole bunch as we were mainly hanging out in the karoke room as we have a bunch of friends that like to sing. So anyways...will definitely be back with those pictures.

Take care

~Hugs

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Yay for the Weekend!

I am so happy it's finally the weekend. This week actually went by pretty fast which shocked me. We are having some friends over on Thursday for a holiday dinner party type of thing. Then on Friday we have our holiday party. I don't have to work and Ian's off as it's his weekend. We booked a room at the hotel so really looking forward to getting away and having some fun. I plan on taking the camera so if I'm able to we should get some decent pics to share when we get home on Saturday.

We both have to work on Saturday but that's ok. At least I don't have to be there until 1pm and Ian not until 5:30ish when he comes up to get me for dinner.

Then on Sunday I have a team meeting and we are doing a white elephant thing so that will be fun and then it will be Monday and my Friday once again. These next few weeks should go by pretty fast and then it will be our anniversary and before we know it time for the trip. Woot! I think we are almost down to one month left to go. I know we are down to like 41 days I think.

I recently went to book our airport parking but the lot doesn't take advance reservations but assured me they would have plenty of parking for us. So hopefully they weren't just saying that to appease me.

So we are pretty much set. Now it's just the waiting for the vacation date to get here. I know it will be here before I know it, but at the same time, it can't get here fast enough.

I have been monitoring the park levels for our time and most of the dates are ranked as a level 1 or 2 with Saturday before leave being a 5 which is still pretty amazing for a Saturday. Most Saturdays even in Jan are ranked as a level 8 or 9. With crowd levels the lower the better so it should be a fun trip. We will likely get to do rides 2 times in a row if we really want to. So excited.

I guess that is all for now. Will be back with an update after the holiday party. So likely either Saturday night or monday.

I know we have exactly

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Ugh

We have been busy since we got home from my parents with work. Now I feel like I'm coming down with a cold. I started to take some vitamins and hopefully get rid of it. I'm feeling ok for the most part...just have a sore throat and a little on the achy side.

I love this time of year though. It seems like we are constantly busy between work and then holiday events. We have our holiday party on Friday December 16th. Ian's off work on Fridays naturally but we found out recently that my team will also be off because we start close to when they are releasing people to go to the party so excited about that.

We got a room at the hotel the party will be at. So now when we get up and get stuff together we can head to the hotel so we don't have to mess with downtown traffic on a Friday.

Then our anniversary is coming up pretty soon too. We are both off on the anniversary so we are going to cook up a meal together at home. Probably grill some yummy steaks on the grill and have some yummy sides. Maybe get some wine. Then just a few short weeks after our anniversary we will be getting packed up and ready to get on a plane and go to Disney. So very excited about our trip. I looked at our countdown the other day and we are almost to the one month and few weeks to go. I know we have our final payment due next week. I will be making that next Tuesday. Which means we will be around the 45 day mark. Pretty soon we will start seeing the Micky mail showing up with the stuff for the magical express bus tickets and the vouchers for the arcade, and misc stuff.

Ok...off to check on my home made chex party mix and then to take some meds to hopefully kick this cold to the curb.

~Hugs

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Almost Turkey Time!

So excited to get to go to Kingwood and see my family there. We will get to meet the newest addition to the family as well, our niece, Alice.

Work has been crazy slow for us. We are so on top of our queue they have been letting people leave early. I managed to snag a spot today and was able to come home at like 3pmish. I told them that I had no PTO to use as the PTO that is in the work tool is being used in Jan for our vacation. Well I thought they understood that I can't use the PTO and have since found out if it's there they have to use it. I wish this could have been maybe a little clearer as I thought since my time was in theory used that I didnt have any to spare so they wouldn't deduct it. So needless to say I'm a little concerned over how everything will work out for our vacation time.

Best case scenario is since I'm on a 4x 10 shift for our holiday shutdown pay, those on these types of shifts would get 40 hours of shutdown pay as others would get 32 hours as they work 8 hour shifts. If this happens and we get to either have 40 hours paid to us or we can elect to use them as holiday hours, which is what Ian and I plan to use. I will be ok. That would cover my leaving early today.

If on the other hand we only get 32 hours, then I will likely have to work the friday before we fly out for Disney and get to keep the remaining parts of the vacation the same.

I sent my manager an email letting them know I would no longer put my name in the mix to get sent home early just to avoid any confusion. They were thinking it would be ok as I get float as well at the start of the new year. However I had to inform them that all our vacation hours including float/holiday shutdown and vacation were going into the 80 we need for our two week vacation.

We are supposed to be getting information from the HR team soon to let us know about how we can use those shutdown hours. They usually offer to pay it out on the last paycheck of December or you can elect to have it carried over into next year to use as time off. We all know how Ian and I are using it.

I now see I should have clairifed some things with my manager before I agreed to take the leave early today...but it's done and over with now and nothing I can do to change it.

On the plus side I now get an extra 10 hours of pay thanks to them having to take out my leave early from my PTO today. So the ten I get on Thursday will be extra instead of covering for todays hours....lol.

Poor Ian..I have been a constant mess lately because of not knowing how the shutdown was going to work as we hadn't heard anything. Finally got an email letting us know we were getting it. Now we are just waiting for the last email that tells us how to let them know we want it as time to take off so we can get that last piece of the puzzle in.

The only last thing that is causing me a headache is some of my team members showed Thursday and Friday as being 10 hours of pay which is what is should be. But my tool was only showing 8 hours. Our manager will not be in for another week as they are on vacation. So hopefully my senior will know who I need to hit up if it's not fixed on Sat as that is our last payday. I don't want to be screwed out of any money. LOL...

What's funny is my other holidays for the rest of the year such as Christmas and New years show 10 but not this one.

Hopefully I can just relax and enjoy my long weekend. Don't have to go back to work until Sat.

I guess that is enough blabbering now. I know this post was a mess but I was just needing to vent about some things and just air it out.

Only two months until vacation as I let out a sigh of relief.

~hugs

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Touring Plans finalized now!!

I was a busy bee last night as the title should explain. I was reading my Disney tip boards last night and they had up the recommended parks to visit for our Jan trip up finally. After pouring over them and looking over our plans we had to make some changes. They base the parks they recommend for each day depending on several factors and did a really great job explaining them. So on to our plans:

Sunday Jan 22nd, we will fly out of the airport in Austin at 3:18pm and should get into Orlando around 6:40 pm. We will then make our way down to the Magical Express check in area and load up on a bus. No need to pick up our luggage as they will take care of it for us. We will then make our way to our resort, Cornado Springs Resort. After checking in we will probably be ready for dinner so will head our way to their quick service resturant. This likely will be the Pepper Market. I need to make arrangements for the shuttle/taxi in the morning for Discovery Cove.EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK...yes I'm excited. We will probably just unpack once we get our bags delivered tonight, might check out the hot tub depending on the weather or just check out the resort grounds and take some pictures.

Monday - Jan 23rd, we will be getting up nice and early for Discovery Cove. I will probably have the taxi pick us up around 7:30am as they start checking in people at the reception area around 8AM and then we can go to their breakfast buffet they will have for us. Then it will be time to check out this place. We will have tons to see and explore. We will also be having lunch here as well and will be doing a dolphin swim at the time they schedule us for.

We will probably head back to the hotel around 4 so we can take showers and get refreshed for our dinner reservation at the table service resturant at our resort called Maya Grill. I have a feeling we will crash early as we will likely be exhausted from swimming so much and I'm sure it will be an emotional day for me. With all the swimming and my dream of swimming with the dolphins coming true, I bet I cry a few times.

Tuesday morning we will be up and at breakfast at the quick service place once more by 7:30AM. Then we will head to Hollywood Studios for some fun. The park opens at 9AM today and we will be spending all our time here today. We might go back to the hotel for an afternoon nap depending on how tired we are. We have a dinner reservation for Sci Fi Diner at 4pm. The park closes at 7pm so we will just go back to the resort and relax. Maybe hot tub for a bit depending on how tired we are from walking a bunch.

Wed morning we have a breakfast reservation at the Crystal Palace. This is in the Magic Kingdom part and we get to enter the park before it opens so we can get some amazing shots with the park nearly deserted. This breakfast has characters at it such as Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and their friends. We will be at this park today all day. It officially opens at 9AM and closes at 8PM. We have a dinner reservation at the Polynesian Resort at a yummy resturant called Kona Cafe. It's very raved about on my disney boards. Our dinner appt is set for 6:25 pm so we should be able to catch the night time fireworks from their beach and see the electric water pagent as well.

Thursday morning we have a breakfast reservation for Tusker House at Animal Kingdom Park. This is another character meal and we will have Donald Duck and pals like Mickey, Goofy, etc. We get in this park early again so can get some great shots with hardly anyone in the park. This is set for 8:15 am so we will likely need to be up and out the door by 7:30. We will stay and play here until we get tired or around 1pmish.

We can go back to the resort and relax for about 2 hours. Then we will head out to Epcot for a tour of the World Showcase. That was another thing mentioned in the touring plans. If you are going to get to Epcot twice in one week, to break it up. Such as one trip go around the world showcase and then on the next one do the stuff in future world. So that is our plan. We will head to Epcot by 2:30 at the latest as we have a dinner reservation for LeCellier Steakhouse at 5:35pm. We will stay until 9pm as Illuminations is set for 9pm. I definitely want to see it as this will be our only night in epcot this week. A lot of people recommend taking your time on your way out of the park after illuminations is over. As we will watch Illuminations from the World Showcase this will be easy to do.

Friday morning we will have a breakfast reservation set up for Kona Cafe at 8:05AM. We will then hop on the monorail and make our way to Magic Kingdom to get our favorites done again and catch anything we missed on the last trip. We will only stay until around noon and then go back to the hotel until about 2:30ish. Then we will go back to Hollywood Studios for any favorite again or things we missed on the first trip. Then we will make our way to Downtown Disney for some shopping and dinner at Earl of Sandwich. No dining reservations as it's a quick service type place.

Saturday morning we will get up and eat at our quick service for breakfast. Then we will go to Epcot as it opens at 9AM. We will tour the Future world items like Test Track/Soarin, pretty much any ride/show in this part of the park. This probably won't take more than a few hours and then go from here to Animal Kingdowm. We will do our repeats again like Expedition Everest and probably get to see the animals in the evening and get to see how they behave as the sun sets. We need to leave here by 5:15ish so we can make our way to the Ft.Wilderness Campgrounds as we have dinner reservations for a dinner show called Hoop de Doo Revue. This is a show and dinner. Plus it's served family style at each of their tables. When you get shown to your table you have bread/honey butter and salad waiting for you. Then we get fried chicken/ribs/mashed potato's/beans for dinner. Then for dessert we get strawberry shortcake. This also comes with unlimited drinks such as coke products/tea/pomegranite(sp?)lemonade/beer/wine/and sangria.

Once we are done here we will probably just go back to the hotel and pack and relax.

Our flight home on Sunday takes off at 12:30 pm. So magical express will pick up at the hotel around 9:30 or somewhere around there.

That's our trip plans and advanced dining reservations we have set up.

I should have a ton of pictures and videos to post when we get back.

Only a few more weeks until turkey day. YAY!!! So excited to be going home for a change.

Guess that is all for now. Take care!

~Hugs

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Update to my last post

So we received an email through the work that we are getting holiday shutdown carryover time. YAY! Apparently it's still only 32 hours so not sure why it was removed to begin with. I'm just very relieved to find out we are still getting it.

Apparently we should hear details in the near future. It's probably to ask if we want it as vacation hours or time paid out as extra pay. This is what they did last year so would be shocked to see if it was something different. Phew!

A little bit of stress that built up due to the time going missing has now been lifted.

We also got the date and time of our holiday party. It's going to be on Dec 16 which is a Friday. Great for Ian as he's off on Fridays but not sure how it will work out yet for those that have to work. If it's like last year only 3 get it approved as vacation and the rest will have to just have to make it up. I guess as details get released we will have an idea of if we will be going or not.

That's all for now.

~Hugs

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

OMG it's November!

The months are just flying by us now. I can't believe it's already November. We had a wonderful visit up at mama and papa faas's house. It was cut short by a day due to us having to get home for Ian's eye. His right eye had some cells develop under the flap they made for the surgery. They wanted to get him in ASAP because they multiply really fast. So they opened the flap back up and used what looked like a metal hook to pull the flap down and then used a sponge to scrape off the cells. Then put the flap back up and he was done.

This weekend we don't have much on the agenda. I think on Thursday we are going to go to the movies. Haven't been in a while.

As for vacation news we have a minor blip but hopefully it will get resolved and no more issues arise with it. Some of the time we were going to use for the time off is called holiday shutdown time. It was in the system when we put the time in for the vacation and now all of a sudden it disappeared.

Ian spoke with his team manager and he thinks they removed it because we are getting bumped up to 40 hours of it instead of 32. That will be awesome if that happens. Hopefully we will know for sure in the very near future. His team manager has a ticket in to our HR people to find out for sure. Hopefully it's not taken away because we know corporate is shutting down for the holidays and that is why we get it. Only time will tell.

Hopefully we know for sure soon though because I need to cancel my November request if we aren't getting it to have enough hours for the full week we would be at Disney. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Not much else to report now.

~hugs

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Double Digits Finally!!!

As the title says, we have officially hit the double digits for our trip in Jan!

Pretty soon we will be under three months as well. I'm so freaking excited!!

I'm only two days away from my weekend which is even better. Not much planned until we hit Thursday which is my birthday. With the weather supposed to be a high of only 72 this day we are debating doing something outside. We might go see Footloose too because I told Ian I want to see it. So we might do movie and then walk the outdoor outlet mall by the theatre. We will see as it gets closer to then.

As for trip news, after reading over some good reviews for the Tusker House in Animal Kingdom, I changed up our Rainforest Cafe breakfast for it instead. So that day we will get to have our first character meal as well. So excited to meet Donald Duck and friends. I might make Ian wait for me while I go visit all the characters this year. I would love to get an autorgraph book to get the pricess's autographs for my nieces. We will have to wait and see though because not sure I want to wait in the long lines they sometimes have.

I will probably play it by ear.

Guess that is all for now. Just had to post we are officially in the double digits. Woot!

~Hugs

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Fall weather finally!!!

I love this time of the year with the cold fronts coming in and cooling the temps down. Now if we can only get some more rain that would be even better. Here in Georgetown we are currently on mandatory watering restrictions stage 4, meaning no watering outside period. The only type of watering allowed is if you use a watering can. No water hoses, or anything like that. So our yard is suffering quite a bit. Our poor crepe myrtle tree is on it's last legs. We had gotten a notice from the HOA telling us we need to remove the dead tree but there are still green leaves on it especially after the rain. Some of the brown ones started to turn green again. However if rain doesn't start falling we will lose the tree which makes me sad. We will need to remove it and plant something new once more. Although our ground is hard as a rock now and it would be tough.

I am hoping that once they fix the pipe that is making us be on such strict water restrictions we will be able to water with the handheld hose once more and can save it.

Now on to news of whats going on in our lives. Work has been busy but that is a good thing. It definitely helps time fly by a little more so. My birthday is next Thursday which I'm looking forward to. We are going to buy some steaks and Ian's going to be the grill master for me. =) I think we are going to do some new potato's, grill zuchinni and rolls. Then for my birthday cake, I'm debating between choc cake or pumpkin pie. Leaning more towards the pumpkin pie because it is one of my favorite fall flavors.

We head to OK in two weeks as well. So excited about this little get away. Even though I know that trip will fly by it will be nice to get out of town and visit with mama and papa faas. I plan on packing the vacation planning video we got from Disney with us. This way we can watch it together and get excited about the Jan trip.

I can't believe we are almost in the double digits for the trip. I think we hit double digits on Thursday or Friday. Eek! One interesting thing I found out from my boards I visit to plan Disney trips, is that Big Thunder Mountain at the Magic Kingdom will be down for refurbishment. So sad, because I was looking forward to tackling the three mountains when we go in Jan as Ian and I missed out on Magic Kingdom when we went last July. The plus side is apparently they usually take down Splash Mountain in Jan but because of the one being down, they plan on keeping Splash up. I am glad for that because I have been on Big Thunder before but never been on Splash. Hopefully we can catch most of the shows and parades too because my family knows how much I love a good parade. One of these days we will go for the holiday time so we can see the parks done up for Christmas time. Maybe the holidays before our 15th wedding anniversary.

And yes I did mess with the layout/background again. LOL. I wasn't digging the other way because I didn't have my links like I have with this version.

I think that's all for now.

~Hugs

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Short work week

I only have to work one more day this week tomorrow. I got Monday off because on Wed I get to go to this event at our favorite movie place with the austin site manager and some other staff members that were nominated by our team managers.

I'm looking forward to it but man this week flew by because of this. Then there are only a few more weeks until my birthday and our mini get away to OK.

We got a new niece this last Thursday as well. My brother and sister in law Liz had a little baby girl. They named her Alice and she is a cutie pie from the pictures I saw via text message. I cant wait to meet her in November.

We should get the official time off approval for our trip in Jan in the next few weeks as well. Yay for that!

I am playing around with the layouts for the blog. Let me know what ya'll think.

~Hugs

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

One month at a time

Is it me or did this month just fly be. I can't believe we are only a few short days away from October 1st. Argh...

Ian's eye surgery went really well. He had the post op appointment on that Friday after surgery to ensure everything was healing well. They also checked his vision and he has 20/15 which is freaking amazing. Its still taking time to get used to seeing him nonstop without glasses now. He looks the same for the most part but you know how that goes. I see him non stop but there is a slight difference to him too.

I found out today that I was nominated by my team manager for a special dinner and movie thing with the main guy over Austin's facility and the other reps nominated by their managers. So it should be fun. I get the monday off before because of it too. It's movie and dinner at the movie theatre that we love with the recliners. Then my birthday will be here before I know it and then it will be time to go to OK and visit "mama and papa faas".

I need to figure out our budget too so I can set aside some money to pay a little on the trip. This way when we have the final payment on December 8th, we don't have to pay as much out of pocket.

Not much else to say currently. Going to go relax and watch some of my chich shows I taped while waiting for Ian to get off of work.

~Hugs

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

work...work.....work

Why is it that when you are on weekend time can fly but when you are working time goes slow.

I think that is how most people feel but sometimes my weekends go by just a tad too fast. We at least have a nice long weekend coming up in October. I'm really looking forward to it because of a few reasons. One is that we will be traveling to OK to visit Ian's parents, or "Mama and Papa Faas" as we call them. The other reason is I get Ian for four whole days. Plus it will be shortly after my birthday and we will be towards the end of the month. Making our trip that much closer in Jan!

Then November we will be going to my parents for a long weekend for Turkey day. So excited about this. We will head to Kingwood on Wed probably around 11ish. Then we will head home on Friday and currently planning on stopping by the Ren Fest as we haven't been in 5+ years. Going to get discount tickets before going once we are sure we are going to go. I don't want to buy them unless we make the firm decision that this is a definite stop on the way home.

Then December we will have our work's christmas party in the middle of the month. Usually they have it around the 17th of the month. Will be cool to see where we have it this year.

Then we will be in Jan. Woot...

Ian sent the customer service people at Discovery Cove an email regarding their wetsuits and if they are available to be purchased in the gift shop for a souvenir and they said yeah.

Another major thing going on currently with us is Ian might be having the iLasik procedure done next Thursday. We were out getting the oil changed on my vehicle yesterday and while we were out he was like, hey lets go by the eye place I had found near us that we can possibly go to for our yearly exam. Set up appointments, and talk to them about the lasik procedure for me. So I was like, sure might as well get an idea on where it was. Well we went in to set up appt. and they were like for the initial lasik exam to see if you would be a candidate we could probably get you in within 15 mins. So we said sure as we didn't have to be home for another 3 hours before he had to go to work.

Well, they did the screenings and talked to him about it. So we said lets get the ball rolling. He had to be back there today for the comprehensive exam where they dialate the eyes stronger than normal to see how they adapt. It was like 8-10 times the strength of the normal ones.That was at 8:15 this morning. God we were tired...

He has an appointment on Friday at the place where the procedure will take place. They will do a similar screening to what they did yesterday. They will also talk to him about the financing as well. We can definitely afford the monthly payment we were quoted for 4 years. However that doesn't mean he will get approved for the money either. Only time will tell.

Once we found out about the healing process for the procedure we knew we wanted to have the max amount of time between the surgery and the trip. The more time the better. Especially since we have the dolphin swim and salt water tends to make you want to rub the eyes. Which is a big no no right after the procedure.

I think that is about it for now. I hope everyone is doing well.

take care.

~Hugs

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Time can go by so slow at times

Good Evening to my loyal readers!

It has been a few weeks since our last update so I figured this would be a good time to update. We have been on our new shifts for almost a full month now and things are going well. It's definitely hard being on different shifts sometimes but we make use of our time together when we have it. They are opening up the shift swap tool next week and Ian has all the shifts that are similar to mine in there currently from when it was open last month. Hopefully he can get moved to one of the ones around my time if not my shift as well. At least it would give us three days off together and similar hours so we could possibly take one car again. God how I miss those days.

As for the Jan Disney trip, we have all our advanced dining reservations planned and got a lot of the restruants we wanted to try on the last trip booked this time. Some of the ones we wanted were fully booked up when we went in July. We are really excited to go on this trip. Plus having some family coming with us this time will make it special too.

I really hope we have a blast and that it's an enjoyable time for all. We missed out on Magic Kingdom last time so really looking forward to going to this park this time as well. Then of course the other three parks all had things we missed out on and things we definitely want to do again and again. For example Soarin at Epcot was soooo freaking cool and Expedition Everest was really fun at Animal Kindgom.

It can sometimes feel like the days passing to get to Jan are going so slow but I know once we hit September the months should fly by. We have birthday's galore, a trip to Ok planned in October, and then of course getting to actually be off on a holiday for the first time in years and get to spend it with family has me thrilled. Then December is the month of birthdays again and we have Christmas/New years, and then Jan 5th our ten year wedding anniversary. Yay for it being on a day we both have off so we can actually celebrate it together!!!!

Then a few short weeks after that we will be on vacation for two whole weeks with the disney trip in the middle of the two weeks. So excited.

I plan on taking more pictures and videos this time!

I guess that is all for now. I hope everyone has a great day.

~Hugs

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Tick...tick...tick

Hey everyone. So it's been a little while since my last update. We have been on our new shifts for a few weeks now. It's going pretty well. We are adjusting ok. I really wish we were on the same shifts but it's not horrible either. When they open up the shift swapper tool, we will probably try to get Ian swapped to one around my hours...We have an open spot on our team so hoping he could move to it. We will have to wait and see.

I really hope the fall temps get here sooner than later. It's be so freaking hot. So many grass fires threatening neighborhoods here. It doesn't help when you have crazy wind too. At least our neighborhood has been ok so far thank goodness.

Not much else to report on for now. Just anxiously looking at my Disney boards hoping they will have a room discount come out soon so we can potentially move to a deluxe resort for the same cost that we are paying now. Will have to just wait and see. We have most of the dining reservations already set up. Might have to adjust one or two if we do move resorts depending on if they release a discount for rooms or not.

Not much else to report on right now.

Take care everyone.

~Hugs

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Yay for Free Dining

So we officially booked the vacation yesterday. I had been watching the boards that I go to for tips and tricks and saw that free dining packages were released and couldn't believe our luck when our dates fell within it. I thought it was just going to be for through the end of 2011 so when I saw 2012 dates through March I was ecstatic.

We changed our leave and return dates by two days. So now we fly out on Sunday, Jan 22nd instead of the 20th. We are taking two full weeks off anyway so now the trip is in the middle of our vacation. It will give us a few days before we fly out to rest and get things done around the house and then a few days when we return before having to go back to the grind.

Three cheers for that! As our work tool that lets you put in vacation requests allowed me to submit it already, I put in for my 80 hours off. I will probably just have to let my new team manager know ahead of time that this was done so it doesn't just sit in a queue and nothing happens to it. I will probably bring it up sometime in October just to make sure it gets approved.

Not much else going on. Got all ADR's made for the trip already so I feel like I'm a step ahead of the game. I will have way too much time to just twiddle my fingers between now and then. Thank goodness for holidays in between now and then.

Anyways got to get ready for work soon. We have two hours of overtime we are doing today and tomorrow. Then on Sat we will work a normal day and then it's off to the new team on Sunday. /cry

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Discovery Cove here I come

Hey all,

We found out today that Ian's parents are going to join us on this trip to the land of the mouse now. Woot!

They also suggested we put in for reservations at Discovery Cove so Ian and I will do the dolphin swim and they are going to just to the general admission now.

I'm so freaking excited. Now I just have to get through work for the next 5 1/2 months. Thank god I'm going to be so busy working that hopefully the months just fly by.

We set it up for Monday, Jan 23rd as this would be after two days in the parks and would give us three days afterward so a nice mid trip break. Eeeeekkkk!!!!!

Now I just pray it's a little warmer than normal in Orlando towards the end of Jan and not freezing cold. At least their wetsuits come in sizes all the way up to 18x so we would have no issues with getting a wetsuit if it's freezing.

Plus they keep the water a nice controlled temperature for the animal's safety. So we might just have to stay in the water. lol...

Ok...off to peruse the disney boards and check on some threads I have been following which they have been talking about discounts on hotel room rates. That would be awesome if we could get a deluxe room for the price of a value.

Anyone is still welcome to join us on this trip as well. It's not limited to just us and Ian's parents so if you are thinking about it and need information please let me know. I will gladly give you the lowdown.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Going back to the Land of the mouse officially

We officially cancelled the cruise in Jan earlier this morning and decided we would rather go back to the land of the mouse.

We have the dates Jan 20th through Jan 27th picked out. We are still pinpointing what resort down as they are all good ones and we want to try them all out eventually. However to save some money we are thinking along the lines of a value or a moderate resort as I haven't received a pin code to made a deluxe worth it.

However there are rumors....that there will be a resort code discount offered this month which could mean we could easily pay the same price of the value and go to a moderate. Keeping my fingers crossed for that one. Although my momma always told me to not count my chickens before they are hatched, or something to that effect.

Anyways, I'm sure as we get things booked I will be back with more details of the resort, and food reservations, etc.

The crowd levels for this time frame are amazing as well.

Anyways, here is our lovely countdown timer for now.

Removed the countdown timer as this trip is over now. =(

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Our trip was magical and tiring but we can't wait to go back!

Yes you read that right...we are seriously considering cancelling the cruise in early Jan and booking a disney trip for the dates of Jan 22nd through Jan 29th. We are looking into it as it's the same cost as the cruise, but everything is included for the most part minus any souvenirs and alcoholic beverages, where the cruise we still have to pay for excursions and tip money so it would end up being more than the Disney trip.

I will keep ya'll updated in case any of ya'll decide to join us possibly.

We would probably go a little cheaper unless Tammy can magically get another pin code for Animal Kingdom. But in all honesty we want something more centrally located to the parks and downtown disney as we didn't spend that much time in our room it was wasted.

So we are looking at the following hotels, Disney's Pop, Disney's All Star Music/movies and Port of Orleans French Quarter/Riverside.

We would probably do a 4 day park hopper and have one day be for Discovery Cove/and one day for Sea World Orlando. Or change our sea world Orlando for the Harry potter thing at Islands of Adventure.

Anywho....I'm getting off track here...I will be back with a full day by day update including pictures to help tell the story.

Until then....~hugs

Thursday, July 28, 2011

We're back!

Hey guys,

I'm going to post a link to the slideshow I just made. I will be posting a full trip report in a moment with details along with pictures of each day as well. It's a long slideshow so if you don't have the time to watch it I will be sending pictures via shutterfly in a moment as well.

Our Magical Trip to The Land of The Mouse Slideshow: Tammy’s trip from Georgetown, Texas, United States to 2 cities Orlando and Disney’s Hollywood Studios (near Celebration, Florida) was created by TripAdvisor. See another United States slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Less than 12 hours

We made it home after working a very early shift today. So tired but on the plus side my load of laundry is in the dryer and I'm just about done with the packing so I can relax for the rest of the evening.

Tomorrow we are going to set the alarm for 8ish so we can get up and finish up. Have a quick bite for breakfast. Probably something small like yogurt. We plan on having lunch at the airport as we are going to be there by 11. They have a Salt Lick there so we can have some yummy BBQ and a drink to calm my nerves. LOL..

So freaking excited but at the same time dreading it. I know it's going to go way toooooooooo fast and then it will be back to the daily grind. /cry

Oh well...only a few months till the week long cruise. So at least I will come home from this vacation and have one to look forward to. =)

That's about all for now. We will have our cell phones on us so if you need us just give us a ring. We will probably check them when we go back to the room in the afternoon after being in a park.

We are staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge too so you can probably find that number and hit us up.

~hugs

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Almost vacation time and new shifts oh my!

Ok, so the time has finally come. We officially found out our new shifts today.

While Tammy was thrilled, Ian was not so much. We got the following shifts.

Tammy will be working Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon from 1PM to midnight with Tues/Wed/Thursdays off.

Ian will be working Sat - Wed from 7PM until 4AM with Thurs/Fridays off.

He will be putting in for a shift swap as soon as possible. The sad thing is it would probably be easy peasy for me to swap with someone and move to Ian's shift then it would be for him to come to mine. We have a lot to talk about tonight after work. Shift swaps won't be eligible until we have moved to the new teams as of right now so we will be stuck for a while in this routine.

I'm sure if we pushed we could get it moved sooner rather than later as well.

Now on to happy thoughts. We only have 4 days left until it's time to hop on a plane and go to the land of the mouse. Yippee!!!!

I'm so freaking excited.

Not much else to say now.

Until next time....

~Hugs

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Daydreaming at work

I should so be working on tickets right now but I'm caught in a daydream about our upcoming magical trip to the land of the mouse.

We hit the 10 days to go mark which means tomorrow we are officially in the single digits. WOO HOO!!!! I also got to do the online check in with the website so I could specify any room requests, any special occasions we are celebrating, etc. As our dating anniversary would be next month, we decided to mark it as celebrating our anniversary. It would be 12 years in August since Ian and I started to date. Can't believe how fast time flies by. Then of course we have our 10 year wedding anniversary in Jan. We will be on the cruise for that celebration. Next year will be filled with two cruises actually. We will be doing the one in Jan and then we decided on the Disney cruise that sets sail on Oct 27th as that would be a week after my birthday when Blizzcon usually is which would make it hard to take off and we would get a Halloween celebration on the cruise so that will make it fun and unique.

Back to the upcoming trip. We managed to speak with our manager and we are working a modified Saturday before we fly out. So on Sat, 23rd we will work from 10 AM to 7 PM. We will have a lot to get done after work and hopefully get in bed by 11 at the latest. We have to be up early to drive to the airport on Sunday.

I plan on taking both the digital camera and the flip video camera so we can document our travel. I'm so freaking excited that I'm not even jealous of my brother and sister in law's cruise. Although I normally would. I found out recently they are going on a cruise leaving monday for 5 nights on the smaller carnival ship out of Galveston. Honestly that is the best way to do your first cruise. I know it's Hans's, but I don't know about Liz's. It made it so it's just long enough to know if you like the cruising life or if you don't you get off the boat two days earlier than most trips go for.

I hope they have fun because I would love for them to potentially join us in Jan still for the cruise to celebrate our wedding anniversary and Hans's birthday. We shall see. I have a feeling it will be just us but that's ok...We had a blast on the one we went on completely by ourselves.

Ok..I really better get back to work. I just had a day dreaming moment and I had to share...I am much better now...

~hugs

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Our countdown timer for the Disney trip

I am removing the timer as this trip is over...stay tuned for a full update along with pictures to help tell the story.

Going someplace magical and new work schedules...Oh my!

Good morning! So we have some crazy news and updates to post. It has been a while so sit back and relax and enjoy that cup of coffee.

First, it looks like new schedules are coming soon. A lot sooner than we hoped for. =( We really like our team and are sad to see it break up possibly. On the plus side there will be 4 ten hour schedules which has me excited. We will see what hours those shifts go to as everything is eluding to much later start times and I can't go to a shift that starts later than 6PM currently. We will be bidding on these early next month, find out which shift we get mid month and start on them at the beg. of August.

So that leads me to my next post. We won't be getting to take a week vacation and visit my sister in AZ. I'm bummed because it's been awhile since I have seen her and her family. We don't want to be out on a week vacation when the new team is meeting each other and you are learning the dynamics of who is who and what they can do.

This brings me to my next point. We had heard Disney was coming to TX for cruises in 2012 so I was researching and have discovered there is one that leaves on my birthday but usually our work conference is held right then so that would make it hard for us to take off that week. So we are debating between the week before my birthday or after which would make it a Halloween cruise. It's going to Grand Cayman, Costa Maya and Cozumel. We would probably do something in Grand Cayman and have the other two ports be ship day ports as we will have just been to those two places in Jan on the Mariner of the Seas.

While researching the Disney cruise I opened up our joint email and discovered we had received a coveted "PIN offer" for Walt Disney World for the Animal Kindgom Lodge Resort for travel this year. So Ian was like price it because it's somewhere he has never been and he has wanted to stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for a while. Well, as it would be the rooms were going for only $169 a night which is like half off their normal rates. They normally sell for $300+ as this is one of their Deluxe Resorts. So after pricing out a vacation for 3 nights/4 days in July for when we had a 4 day weekend scheduled, it was in our budget. This includes airfare nonstop from Austin via Jet Blue, 2 day park hopper passes, their dining package for three nights, transfers from the airport, etc. So, we are heading to the land of the mouse next month. I was quite surprised we did this as we are never this impulsive when booking a vacation.

So here's the skinny....We are flying out of Austin on July 24th, at 2:30 arrive in Orlando at 6:30ish. Go to the Magical Express meeting area, don't even have to pick up our luggage at the baggage area, they do it for us. We will go to the resort and get checked in and pick up our keys to the world. It's our room key, park admittance key, charge card while we are there. Then we plan on hitting up downtown Disney for dinner, shopping, and some live music. We will possibly check out the hotel some and go to bed. We plan on getting up for early on Monday, for early magic hours at the Animal Kingdom Park. Stay until we have done everything we want to and are ready for a break. Go back to the hotel for some pool time fun, a nap. Then up by 4:30ish to head to Disney's Hollywood Studios as we have our first dinner reservation at the Sci Fi dinner at 6PM. We will play in this park tonight as they have the extended hours for resort guests from 9pm - midnight. I don't know if we will make it till midnight but we will sure try.

Then Tuesday we will get up early for the Magic Kingdom as we have early magic hours here. We don't have a whole lot we plan on doing here so we will probably head back to the hotel by noon for some pool time and a nap. We have dinner reservations at 5pm at Kona which is in the Polynesian Resort. Then we will go from the Poly to Epcot for the extra hours there.

Then we fly back home on Wed at 2pm and get in to Austin around 4pm. I have a feeling we will be ready for the bed when we get in. We have to be back at work on Thursday at 3pm so at least we can sleep in the next day. I have a feeling this will feel like a very rushed trip but worth it at the same time. Got to love having an extra paycheck in a month that lets you do fun things like this.

I should be able to finish paying on our Jan cruise too within the next two months. Yay for that as well.

I promise to take lots of pictures while we are there and write a review of everything once we are back as well.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Update to the cruise

We went out to celebrate Valentines Day on Friday night and we did a lot of talking. We decided that it would be smarter to see if we could change the week of the Mariner cruise to Jan. If we did the November one we would have no time to take a vacation or day off in between now and the cruise. So this way we can take a week in July to possibly see my sister and family in Arizona and then take the cruise in Jan. We would still have plenty of time to save up a week's worth of time for Jan.

So we switched today after researching the various itneraries on the Mariner in Jan. We opted to go with the 6 night leaving on Jan 2nd, 2012. This will allow us to celebrate 10 years of being married to each other while on the cruise. We will have a sea day and then be in Costa Maya, then on our anniversary we will be in Belize, and on friday be in Cozumel. We get long days in each port which is awesome. Normally you have short days which sucks but we will get 10 hours in Belize and Cozumel.

Then we will save time for Septemberish for the Alaska cruise. We are waiting on those itenraries to come out still. Should be around the week of April 12th. I can't wait.

Countdown for the new cruise!

I am removing this as we are no longer going on the cruise and instead going back to Disney World

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Cruise Slide Show

Our Caribbean Cruise on The Voyager of The Seas Slideshow: Tammy’s trip from Georgetown, Texas, United States to 4 cities Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Galveston was created by TripAdvisor. See another United States slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.

Sunday - Feb 6th - Disembarkation and future plans

We woke up around 5am and decided to get up as we were getting closer to Galveston. We were docked by 6:30ish. We decided to get ready and head down to where the people self - disembarking were meeting up. We were off the boat by 7:30 and in the car by 8 AM. We made it to my parents in Kingwood after a quick potty and breakfast stop by 10am.

We then decided to hit the road for Austin and made it home by 1:30. We even joked we could have went to work if we really wanted to.

We unpacked the luggage and checked email and decided to go grocery shopping to get some snacks before the big game would be on at 5. We made it to the grocery store but it was way too packed so we decided to put it off for monday. We picked up KFC for dinner and got a pack of the hot wings. yummmy.

Before we went on the cruise we had been doing some research on what we wanted to do next cruise wise. I found that with the new ship to us, Mariner of the Seas came to Galveston, there would be a rare 9 night cruise out of Galveston. We decided then and there we would book it while on this cruise so we could get the discount on deposit and get a $100 onboard credit for the next cruise.

We booked it while on the cruise and now have this cruise to look forward to. It sets sail on November 11th, 2011 and it goes to: Belize, Roatan, Honduras, Cozumel and Grand Cayman. We will have four sea days as well so we are looking forward to it.

Up next, slideshow of the cruise.

Saturday - last sea day

We woke up around 9 am again and called mom to see if she wanted to join us in going to the main dining room for breakfast today. We were sat at a large table with all people from Texas. We had the older married couple from the love and marriage game show which was neat.

We heard what was happening and what had happened weather wise while we were gone. It sounds like we chose the perfect week to get out of town. We met up for the first session of Bingo at 11 where they gave away a free cruise for two on the last game. Mom won on the second game and got it all to herself. She won a total of $300+ and told us she would treat us to the next round of bingo where the jackpot of 1k would be given away. We then went back to our room for a bit to get packed up. We then met up with them around 1:30ish to grab a snack for lunch. Then we were off to play a round of bingo. Ian and dad both won and tied with three others, so they split the 1000 jackpot and walked away with 200. So not bad.

Ian and I both wanted to shop in the promenade some and found watches we loved so we picked those up as well.

We crashed around 10ish as we would have an early morning the next day.

Up next - disemarkation and future plans

Friday - sea day and Portofino's

We slept in until around 9AM as we were pooped. We made it to breakfast and chilled. We went back to the room for some relaxation and reading on the balcony. We didn't do a lot today as we had reservations for dinner at the specialty resturant this evening. I think we might have spent a little time in the casino but that was about it.

That night we had dinner at Portofino's. Yum. Ian, mom and dad all got the skewer and I ordered the beef tenderloin. It was sooooo good. Then they bring you our dessert appetizers of some yummy cookies and choc. covered strawberries. I ordered the tiramasu for dessert and mom had some yummy choc. cake thing. Ian got the sampler and dad ordered the panacotta. He said it wasn't very good so noted for the future.

We then went to the hot tub and pool for some relaxation. Crashed somewhere around 11 this night. We were already starting to realize the end of the cruise was near and were very sad.

up next- last sea day and some exciting bingo wins

Thursday - Montego Bay Jamica

We did not set the alarm today as we were docking around 8 AM and had nothing planned but to do some shopping and enjoy the pools and hot tub on the ship.

We got off the ship around ten and the guys bought some cigars as they were the best priced here. Ian picked up some for a few of the guys at work. I got some blue mountain coffee as it is so yummy. We made it back to the ship and decided to get on our swim suits and meet at the pool deck. We were in the adult only area and it was so boring as it's quiet there. We decided to move to the main pool area as they had music piped in and grabbed some drinks. We stayed in the pool and hot tubs for a few hours. About 1pm we decided to head back to the room and get showers and order some room service for some burgers to tide us over until dinner that night. We hit up the main dining room and got some delicious tiger shrimp with a yummy stuffing of garlic and other stuff. It was amazing.

Up next, sea day and portofinos

Grand Cayman - Wed Feb 2nd

We woke up to another beautiful day in Grand Cayman. Mom and I went down about 8:30 to get tender tickets as this is a tender port. They were already setting up and we managed to get tickets for tender number 2. I went up to the room to finish getting ready and as soon as I put my key in the door they were already calling for tender number one which meant we would be soon. I rushed to finish getting ready and we managed to make it down in time to catch the tender. I was hoping mom and dad would figure to just go to the tender instead of our meeting spot. We didn't see them there so we figured worst case scenario we would meet up at where the tour leaves from. We found them soon after. Our tour met at 12 and we were walked to a bus to take us to where their catamaran is docked at.

We had about 21 people total on the tour with us which is slightly more than the previous time but still not bad. We made it to stingray city and I can not say enough good things about them and their operation. We had Carlos as our stingray person and he was so friendly and made sure everyone got their time with the stingray from holding it, kissing it to getting a back massage. We then left from there to go to Coral Gardens. Oh my...we saw so many varities of fish out there and even some sting rays. Unfortunatly the time was up and we were sailing our way back to the dock. /cry

I could spend a week here as the people are so friendly and the water is so amazing. I can't wait to go back in November. That story will be at the end.

We did a bit of shopping once we got back to the port terminal area. We picked up two rum cakes for our teams at work to share when we go back next week. We got a shirt and a shot glass as well.

Then it was time to catch a tender back to the ship. We wanted to get showers as well. We went to the windjammer tonight for dinner as we were pooped and did not feel like getting dressed up.

Up next Montego Bay and relaxation

Tuesday, Feb 1st - Cozumel Mexico - Nachi Cocum

We woke up with the wake up call set for 6:30 AM. Ian was still not feeling up to par but got up and went to breakfast. While we were at the Windjammer he started to feel sick to his stomach. We decided to go back to the room for a potty stop before meeting off the ship. While in the room, Ian decided it would be better for him to stay back as he was still under the weather and didn't want to miss out on Grand Cayman again after the last time. I of course was a little upset but my parents were going so at least it wasn't a complete wash to the day. I met them as soon as I got off the ship and informed them Ian was staying back on the ship. We then went to the terminal area for some shopping. After mom found a few things we made it to the cab area and grabbed a taxi to Nachi Cocum beach club. I can not say enough good things. They only charged me for one instead of two as Ian didn't come with. The lady felt bad so that saved me 37 bucks.

They led us out to our little piece of paradise. Four loungers under a nice shaded palapa. Carlos was our waiter and he is one of the best and most requested servers there. We really lucked out. We decided to just have some water for the time being as it was only 9am and we had a long day to go. Mom and I put our toes in the sand and water and brr it was chilly. However I wasn't going to let that stop me from enjoying the water as it was 80 degress and warm outside. The water felt great after we let the sun bake us for a while. We ordered some drinks and I gave him a nice tip and told him to keep the drinks coming. Boy did he ever. I usually had a fresh rum punch before the one he brought me was half gone. I was smart though and drank them slow.

Mom and I put on the snorkel stuff and saw some fishies. We lost our sunglasses but I found them after looking for about 30 minutes. We then got out and ordered some yummy food for lunch. Dad was starting to not feel so great and took his food to the shaded resturant area to have a better seat. Mom and I got back in the water and then saw him come back to the chairs and was signaling he was leaving so we decided we were ready to go as well. It was around 1pm and we had to be back by 3 anyways so why not. I wanted to check on Ian anyways. I took Ian some extra strength meds for his issues and he started to feel better. So yay for that. I have my dad to thank for that. He was better after those meds for the rest of the cruise. I wish we would have gotten him the meds sooner. Oh well.

Up next Grand Cayman and sting ray city.

Monday Jan 31st - 1st full sea day and 1st formal night

We woke up around 8:30 am and Ian was feeling a little sick to his stomach. We were not sure if it was from the motion we were feeling in the back of the ship, or if he was coming down with what was plaguing mom. He drank quite a few glasses of water and finally was able to rid his body of what was plaguing his stomach. He had some bonine and went back to bed. Mom and I got out and had coffee and breakfast at the cafe promenade. We then went to check on the guys. Ian was feeling a bit better but still not fully well. He was queasy still but felt weak. He dehyrated his body on Sunday so he wouldn't have to use the restroom as much on the drive down. Then after all the drinking we did on Sunday night, he got sick from it. He had some sprite and some bread and was feeling better by the time dinner came around.

We got dressed up for formal night and went to our dining room. Ian and I both ordered the upcharge steak for dinner and it was delicious as usual. It somes with a yummy peppercorn sauce and a baked potato. After dinner we called it a night as it was close to 10 and we had an early morning with docking in Cozumel at 7 and we wanted to shop before we went to Nachi Cocum beach club.

Up next, Cozumel and more tales of woe.

Tales of woe and a rainy embarkation day

The tale begins on Friday Jan, 28th around 9 PM. We are heading for Kingwood, TX after getting off of work at 7 PM. We are on 290 and getting close to Hempstead when we receive a text message from my sister Misty letting us know that not only is dad not feeling well, but mom might be coming down with something herself. So we decide to book a hotel for the night and play it by ear the next morning to decide if we need a hotel for Saturday night as well. We were both sad to hear that not only dad has gotten sick but mom might be coming down with something as well. To prevent us from catching it we decide this will be the way to go as we can't have more people sick.

So we get to the La Quinta just down the road from mom and dad's about 10ish. We were able to snag their last room available as there were two high school soccer teams staying there. Of course its the suite and we had a jacuzzi tub. This was nice after the long journey from Austin to Kingwood. The beds were super comfy as well. I would highly recommend it in the future as long as our one and only issue with them gets resolved asap. We had done the check out where you call and let them know you are checking out and leave the keys in the room. We check out on Saturday. We get home and find out we were billed for a second night as well. They are working on getting this resolved though. So as long as it gets resolved we have no issues with them.

Back to the story at hand. We called mom in the morning to make sure she was feeling ok. Sure enough, it was a fluke issue that made her feel ill and was a-ok. We met up with her and Misty that morning for a yummy breakfast at Cracker Barrel. After breakfast we head to their house as mom is going to take dad to the emergency clinic at Walgreens to see if they can do anything for him. As he has less than 24 hours now till we need to leave to get on the boat.

Ian heads to the gun range while Misty and I play catch up. They all get back about the same time. They give dad Tamiflu and some good cough meds to help him out. Now will be the waiting game to see how he feels in the morning. We go to lunch at a new chinese resturant and then go shopping for mom some shoes. We head back to their house and mom is going to get us pizza for dinner and dad is feeling much better already. Enough that barring any incidents decided he would be well enough to go on vacation with us. He would relax in the room for the first two days to ensure no chance of a relapse. We head to bed around 11 that night anticipating our emarkation morning.

We wake up around 7:30 as we wanted to be on the road by 9:30ish due to the rain that was happening. We all like to go slower when the weather is crappy. We got on the road about 10ish and had one quick stop to make at my brothers house to pick up a laptop for my dad to borrow as he was going to stay in the room through monday afternoon at least. We make it to the parking lot for the cruise by noon and are on the ship by 12:30. Very smooth process once we made it there. We proceed up to the windjammer as the rooms would not be open until at least 1:30ish. We chill out there while having a small snack of crackers and cheese. Then we head to the rooms to get our first peak. We really liked the aft balcony, however we didn't use it as much as we used the last two balconies. I was too busy running around with mom. Mom came to our room for sail away. We then decided to hit up Johnny Rockets for dinner and picked up something for dad on the way out. We stopped by their room to drop off the food and to check in on him. Then decided to go to the casino for a little bit and then to the Pig and whistle pub for some Kamikazee Karoke with Derek Lewis. It's something not to miss if you are ever on the Voyager of the Seas. He puts on a great show and knows how to show everyone a "5 minute party". LOL.

After quite a few drinks we decide to call it a night. We were stuck due to the parade that was happening but as soon as that was over, we headed to the room. It was about midnight and we were pooped after a long day.

Coming up - 1st full day at sea and formal night

The cruise that we didn't want to end!

We made it home safe and sound from the first part of our vacation! We certainly did not want this cruise to end. However we at least have the next one booked so we have something to look forward to over the next 8 1/2 months.

I will tell the story of our trip starting with the first day leading up to the last day. I will also put in our slideshow for the cruise instead of putting in pictures as that takes up way too much time.

Coming up, tales of woe and a rainy embarkation day.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Eek! Less than two weeks until vacation time!

I think the title says it all. We are now less than two weeks to go until we will be getting dressed up for the first formal night. I'm so excited! Work has definitely helped as it keeps me busy from the time I clock in until the time I clock out. From helping out other team members to doing my work and hitting my numbers I stay busy. We only have one more full work week left and then next week we have 2 1/2 days and will be heading to Kingwood once we get our of work on Friday at 7pm. We will probably stop off in Giddings at the whataburger that is right off the freeway. It's a great potty stop and pick up some food to nosh on as I'm sure we will be starving. I will work on getting all the non-essientals packed next weekend. Things like make-up, curlers, suntan lotion, bathing suits, shorts, etc. Then on Friday before we go to work I will finish packing us up. I might work on it when we get home on Thursday after work as well instead of waiting on friday. Knowing my luck I would forget something and would be frantic.

Tomorrow we are going to run some errands and finish up on the last pre cruise stuff before I start the packing. We went to Barnes and Noble this last week and stocked up on some books and magazines for the trip. Ian even got him a book to read. It's by the guy that did the Jason Bourne stuff. I think we might even try to go see a movie as well since there are a few out that we wouldn't mind seeing. We will see though. It all depends on how the day goes and what time we wake up in the morning. I'm not going to stress over it too much.

I ordered chocolate covered strawberries and champagne to be delivered to the room as a surprise for Ian on embarkation day so they should be in the room when they open up the rooms for us to go drop off stuff and check out.

We are in our first Aft balcony. We have one that is literally on the back of the ship and not just on the side past the midship location that they determine is aft. Nope....we are on the butt of the ship. LOL.

We should get some great pictures back there. The only thing that is bad about the voyager class ships and freedom ones is they have this superstructer that does block the view straight down like you get on the side balconies. But when we booked these and they were available we couldn't pass it up. I have always wanted to try one out and we are on deck 9 where the structure doesn't impose as much on you and you can look straight out and not be blocked by a steel structure. We will see though. If we don't like it then we can at least say we tried it and spend time on the ship instead of the balcony. However I have a feeling I will still spend time out there because it's supposed to be a huge balcony.

Awww...tick...tock...tick...tock...can't this countdown go any faster.

That's all for now...

~hugs